Classes canceled, streets flooded in Oak Park and River Forest

La Grange adjusts garbage pick-up due to storms

Two girls walk on a flooded Keystone Avenue in River Forest. (Michelle Manchir, Chicago Tribune)

Oak Park Elementary School District 97 canceled classes and after-school activities Thursday because of severe weather.

According to an email from the district spokesman, Chris Jasculca, the district received notification this morning from its transportation company that the weather conditions “will prohibit them from providing service today.”

Oak Park and River Forest High School and River Forest School District 90 schools were open, but canceled most after-school events.

Oak Park village spokesman David Powers said no major streets were closed.

In La Grange, garbage and recycling collection normally scheduled for Thursday was moved to Friday as a result of the weather, according to the village website.

In River Forest, many streets remained closed Thursday afternoon, including North Avenue, between Thatcher Avenue and Harlem Avenue, Lake Street near Thatcher Avenue and Division from Forest Avenue to Thatcher. Chicago Avenue is also closed at Thatcher Avenue.

Throughout the day, residents near West Lake Street were “strongly encouraged” to evacuate their homes and move valuables to an elevated area, according to a notice on the village website. The River Forest Public Library, 735 Lathrop Ave., was opened to residents who needed to evacuate their homes.

Alice Jamison, who lives in a River Forest neighborhood near the Des Plaines River, said she lost a bed and other furniture when her basement filled with about four feet of water.

But for her and many of her neighbors, some of whom dumped buckets of water from their flooded homes outside on Thursday afternoon, watery basements are commonplace during big rain events, she said.

“I’ve had as much as seven (feet) in my basement,” she said. “About 20 years ago, the whole street was flooded and a row boat was able to go down the street.”

Jamison said she’s lived in her home for 58 years and takes the inconvenience in stride.

“There’s nothing I can do about it. We’ll see how it works out,” she said.

Residents in the area where Jamison lives in River Forest were encouraged early in the day on Thursday to leave their homes and evacuate to the River Forest Public Library. But River Forest Police Chief Greg Weiss said he had not heard of any residents who evacuated.

Weiss, who’s been in River Forest for 26 years, said past storms have hit the area harder, and it seems like recently there’s been a “100 year flood once a year.”

“From a resident point of view, any time this happens it’s terrible,” Weiss said.

For only the third time in its history, the Brookfield Zoo also closed and will remain closed Friday, said zoo spokeswoman Sondra Katzen.

This is due to flooding in some areas of the zoo, she said, but added that the animals are being well cared for and are doing fine.

Click here for more information on the severe weather in the Chicago area.